São Paulo – Machinery and equipment exports from Brazil reached USD 519.71 million in May, down 26.4% year-on-year. Year-to-date through May, exports fetched USD 3.896 billion, up 17% year-on-year. The numbers were released this Tuesday (26) by the Brazilian Machinery and Equipment Industry Association (Abimaq).
“Exports were directly impacted by the trucker strike on the last ten days of May,” an Abimaq press release read, alluding to the strike which significantly affected cargo movements across Brazil.
According to Abimaq, up until April, exports had been averaging USD 800 million a month. The drop in foreign sales took away from results for the industry as a whole. May saw a 6.2% drop in capital good industry revenue year-over-year.
Exports of machinery and equipment of all kinds slid last month, according to Abimaq. Year-to-date, however, foreign sales only decreased for two product categories: machinery and equipment for the process industries, and machinery for infrastructure and base industries.
“This sharp decline is expected to be partly offset by a recovery in sales in June,” Abimaq said.
From January to May, the bulk of exports went to Latin America, the United States and Europe, with sales increasing to those three regions.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
